


Shooting Stars

by MissLit



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Bodyguard Gladio, M/M, Manager Ignis, Photographer Prompto, Pop Singer AU, Pop Star Noctis, Slow Burn, possibly more pairings later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-25 00:30:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12024306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissLit/pseuds/MissLit
Summary: Prompto is used to doing photo shoots for the rich and famous. But something about Noctis is different. Not only is he kinder than most celebrities he's worked with, but for some reason his presence is causing Prompto's brain to melt. He doesn't think anything of it at first, he just does his job and watches Noctis leave. But then he gets a mysterious call from an unknown number.





	Shooting Stars

Prompto had met plenty of celebrities in his time as a photographer. He had a reputation for being fun, discreet, and for developing some of the best photos in the industry. One disappointing thing about the job, though, was realizing how many celebrities he’d always loved were just as pompous and self-centered as everyone had warned him. Over the years this fact had made him wary of new clients and where once he’d been excited at the prospect of working with certain celebrities, he was now able to reign that in.

This reigned in excitement was tested early one morning when he got an e-mail from a manager of a pop singer. Often times they didn’t want him to know who the client was so he couldn’t spread it around; thus the only information he was given was that the client was male, a singer, and possibly foreign as the timestamp on the manager’s e-mails indicated it was the middle of the night for him. The manager in question, Ignis Scientia, specified the time and date. Once Prompto was sure his schedule was clear he sent back a positive response.

“ _There will only be four of us in the room_ ,” Ignis said in his return e-mail. “ _My client, myself, his body guard, and you. Should you require assistants you must request to have them prior to our meeting. If anyone else is there, we will leave immediately._ ”

Prompto let out a low whistle. Even some of the A list celebrities allowed other people to be there, not that Prompto tended to invite anyone. Maybe this was someone really special. He honestly didn’t need anyone else with him for the shoot, so he agreed and the date was set for a few months out. By the time the limo pulled up to his studio he’d nearly forgotten among the rush of other shoots he had to take care of.

“Good afternoon,” Prompto greeted with a wide grin as he opened the door. It looked like there was a wall on the other side and he had to raise his head to look up at the mountainous man standing there. “Woah… You must be the bodyguard I was told about.”

“Step back,” the guard grunted. Swallowing, Prompto did so.

The guard did a quick sweep of the room with his eyes before stepping in and off to the side. The next man to walk in was tall with glasses, wearing a business suit. He was on his cell phone with an open notebook in his hands, writing furiously.

“Manager, got it,” Prompto muttered, smiling and waving at the man who he now knew was Ignis. Ignis gave him a nod in response; at least he was polite.

“Come on in,” the guard was saying, motioning to the last person in the row.

Sliding a pair of sunglasses and a hat off his head, the small dark-haired man shook his hair out before meeting Prompto’s gaze. The room suddenly felt hotter, his heart skipped a beat. While he didn’t recognize him immediately, Prompto saw well and truly that this young man was absolutely gorgeous.

“Hey there,” Prompto managed. He held a hand out to shake numbly and unthinkingly. It was swiftly slapped away by the man’s guard.

“Gladio!” the small celebrity snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. “Don’t be rude, he was saying hello.”

Gladio, as the guard was called, gave his charge a sour look before leaning against the wall, crossing his own arms in retaliation. “Whatever you say, Noct,” he grunted. “You’re the boss.”

Noct… The name sounded familiar somehow. “Noct as in… Noctis?” Prompto could feel himself pale. “As in Noctis Lucis _Caelum_ Noctis?!”

Noctis gave Prompto a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts. “The same. I take it you’ve heard of me?”

It was no wonder Ignis had demanded there be no one present for the shoot. Noctis was a notoriously private person. He was a musician with the voice of an angel. At first he’d done concerts all over, usually at small venues, but at some point the small venues wouldn’t take him anymore because he was so popular. He’d gone somewhat into hiding… until now.

“I… Yeah! Wow… I love your music. Sorry, I don’t normally gush like this,” Prompto quickly added, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

“It’s no trouble. I’m glad to hear people still like my music even if I’ve dropped off the face of the earth,” Noctis admitted. “Actually, that’s why I needed to come here. I just finished my first album in a few years and we need pictures for the cover and jacket.”

Prompto was swooning. “You wrote more music?”

“I never stopped,” Noctis admitted with a light laugh. “I just needed to reassess some things, but I think I’ll be back at it soon enough.”

Before Prompto could ask anything else, Ignis abruptly finished his phone call and crossed the room to them. “Mr. Argentum, good to meet you in person,” he said, holding out a hand to shake. Prompto glanced at Gladio to make sure he wasn’t within slapping range before taking it.

“Sup?” he replied.

“Forgive me my rudeness, I had a very important phone call with the recording company just now. But I am free, my phone is silenced, and we can begin as soon as you are able.” Prompto couldn’t help noting the accent and cordial manner of speaking. Most managers just snapped orders at him, but Ignis just seemed to want efficiency.

Prompto motioned to the other side of the room where he had his light tents and camera set up against a white backdrop. “Got a set up right over there. What were the plans for the photos?”

“We brought a bunch of costumes that I’ll be wearing on my next tour, so maybe you can look through them and see what speaks to you,” Noctis chimed in. “I’ve seen your photos, Mr. Argentum, they’re very good. I defer to your judgement.”

“Too right,” Ignis nodded. “Gladio, if you could bring up the costumes.” Before he’d even finished the sentence, Gladio was gone.

Noctis crossed the room to the photography set up, looking over the background and the different pieces Prompto had available. Giving a nervous glance at the door for Gladio, Prompto followed him. “So, uh… What’s the mood for your new album? So I know what I’m gonna do.”

“Did you want to hear the title track? Maybe that would help,” Noctis offered.

“Noct,” Ignis scolded. “We’re trying to keep that under wraps, remember?”

Noctis rolled his eyes. “It won’t hurt if I give him an acoustic version, right? He needs to know what it sounds right to get the right shots. Don’t you?”

“Ah… N-not necessarily,” Prompto replied. He really didn’t want to piss off Ignis or Gladio. “Just, uh… Gimme a theme! And we can go from there.”

While Ignis seemed to approve of his answer, Noctis didn’t look happy. Still, he offered a slight smile. “Well… The theme is unrequited love. It’s a lot of slower tracks, but the title track and some of the singles are a little more upbeat.” Prompto nodded, looking thoughtful. Unrequited love… That was a tough theme to put into photograph, but he was sure he could do it. Especially with those costumes.

As Gladio stepped back into the room with a trunk over his shoulder, Noctis motioned to it. “Why don’t you pick something for me to wear, Mr. Argentum.”

“Please, you can just call me Prompto,” he responded with a light laugh. “All this ‘Mr. Argentum’ stuff is making me nervous, makes me feel like I'm back in school.”

Noctis smiled that sweet smile again. “Alright… Prompto.”

The way Noctis said his name sent shivers down his spine. Prompto shook it off, crossing the room to the chest Gladio had brought inside, kneeling down to pull out different costumes. They were all very conservative, high collars and long pants, but eventually he came across something that stood out. It was a dark grey top with pieces sewn along the sleeve and bottom  to make it look like a darkness creeping up his body. The bottoms of the outfit were attached; a simple black pant with a stripe of deep blue along the left leg. In that stripe was a galaxy of colors, and along the bottom of the pants were dots of sequins made to represent stars.

“That’s a good choice,” Noctis was saying over his shoulder. “That’s going to be for the middle of the show.”

“Oh, yeah? I really like it,” Prompto was saying as he turned, only to come face-to-face with Noctis, crouched and mostly naked except for his boxers. “Ah… Oh… Wow.”

“Is everything okay?” Noctis asked.

Prompto’s face was growing red, he could feel it. He was making a complete ass of himself. Of course, he’d seen celebrities naked before, so why was this so different for him? “Yes,” he squeaked. He cleared his throat. “Yeah. Everything is fine, it’s just fine.” Gladio was eyeing him suspiciously, so Prompto handed over the outfit. “How about you get that one on and we’ll take some warm up shots?”

Smiling in return, Noctis stood and started pulling the top over his head. While he did that Prompto scooted around him to his camera, absentmindedly checking the lense and lighting and making sure everything was okay. Or rather, distracting himself from the gorgeous singer re-dressing himself just behind him.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Noctis said as he stepped closer.

“Great! Just stand there,” Prompto motioned, hiding his face behind his camera.

They took a few warm up pictures, Ignis insisting on seeing every one once they were finished. He seemed pleased, and the shoot continued. It took a few hours, they tried on a few other outfits, and eventually he set up the green screen and other backdrops as well. After a few hours of tireless work, Prompto finally declared them finished. “We took quite a few! Some great shots in here,” he noted, smiling. “I’ll touch them up and send them your way and you can let me know which ones you’re gonna use.”

Ignis nodded in response, holding a card out to him. “Thank you, Mr. Argentum.” Clearly the ‘no mister’ rule didn’t apply to managers. “Please contact me by e-mail with the photos and make certain you call me once they’ve been sent. I have quite a bit of correspondence to sift through and would like notification immediately.”

“Absolutely,” Prompto answered, nodding furiously.

“C’mon, kid,” Gladio was saying to Noctis, nodding to the door. “Let’s get you some dinner.”

As Noctis passed Prompto, he gave his wrist a slight touch, shooting him a smile. “Good bye, Prompto,” he said, hurrying out after Gladio.

“Bye,” Prompto breathed, weakly waving after him.

It was hard to edit all those photos. Maybe he’d gone a little overboard, but he’d taken a few hundred and was now forced to narrow it down to fifty or so. But he couldn’t help it. Every tilt of Noctis’s head, every flip of his hair, every bat of his eye was like a painting. He barely had to touch up any of the photos and he ended up only enhancing the colors or changing the greenscreen in the background. Every new picture took his breath away, and it took everything he had to smother down those impure thoughts that kept trying to force their way to the surface.

Prompto’s wrist burned where Noctis had touched him. He kept glancing down at it to make sure there wasn’t a mark of some kind that was left behind, but there was nothing. Just a memory. The worst part, he was probably never going to see him again. Before going to bed on the last night of editing, he made sure to move all of the original photos to a separate file where he wouldn’t accidentally delete them.

As Prompto wrote up the e-mail to Ignis with the link to the photos attached, he sighed when he heard his phone going off. Kicking off his desk, he pushed his rolling chair across the room to the table he’d left it on, opening the screen. It was late, almost three in the morning, but there was a new text from a strange number waiting for him:

[+81 3 215-5555] Hey. :) Can we talk?

Prompto frowned as his brain tried to process the first few numbers. What did that mean..? Who was this? He hesitated before messaging back.

[Me] sry bro, i thnk u hve the wrng # =A=

Rolling back to his desk, he set his phone down next to him as he went back to typing. A second later, his phone was jingling again.

[+81 3 215-5555] Sorry. Is this not Prompto Argentum?

Prompto’s blood froze. Who was this person? How did they get his number?

[Me] it is…… who is ths??

He didn’t go back to typing this time. He had to know who was messaging him in the middle of the god damn night.

[+81 3 215-5555] Can I call you? I’ll get in trouble if I tell you over text…

This felt bad. Like a trick or something. Prompto had half a mind to ignore the message and go right back to work, but the curiosity was getting to him. Who could this be? After a few minutes of debate he responded.

[Me] sure.

It wasn’t long before his phone buzzed, the ringtone blaring in the stillness of his apartment. He had one last chance to let this go and ignore whoever it was… But he picked up the phone.

“Hey there,” he said. “Who is this..?”

“Hi, Prompto,” the familiar voice replied. Prompto swallowed, hoping but not daring to assume. “It’s Noctis.”

**Author's Note:**

> You should definitely read Sincerely, Me by Ignis_Sassentia and SharkbaitHooHaHa, they're to blame for Prompto's texting habits.


End file.
